This was it. This could either go wonderfully, or horribly wrong. It was the day John Watson introduced his girlfriend Riley Johansson to his flatmate Sherlock Holmes, who also happens to be his best friend. He'd never been so worried in his life. Sherlock can come off as…. obnoxious in the best of cases. At the worst of times, he can be downright unpleasant and rude. John was just hoping he could play nice.

After encountering no problems in picking up Riley, he started to feel that this meeting could actually go well. It was once John brought Riley to his flat that it started to get interesting. The door was already open, so Sherlock must have heard them talking as they came up the steps. As they were talking about him, he may have actually paid attention.

"Sherlock, I want you to meet Riley Johansson, my girlfriend," John said as he walked into the sitting room. "Riley, this is my best friend and flat mate, Sherlock Holmes." At first, John didn't understand why neither of them were talking. They were just staring at each other, Sherlock with a confused look and Riley with a shocked one. It was then that John heard a faint whisper from Riley, and he knew something was wrong.

"Sherly?" she whispered, sounding tentative, shocked, and confused all at once. "Is that you?"

"Ry-Ry?" Sherlock's disbelieving tone had John even more confused than Riley's question.

"I thought you were dead," Riley said, her eyes tearing up. "When you disappeared, we didn't know what to think. We all assumed the worst."

"I had to hide. They were searching for me, and I couldn't put all of you in danger. I couldn't let anyone know where I was." Sherlock looked the saddest John had ever seen him, and he began to wonder what was going on between his best friend and girlfriend.

"Even after Voldemort killed James and Lily? Even though we knew he was gone, and the threat diminished?" Riley was starting to cry, though she looked angry as well. This was just getting weirder and weirder.

"The threat may have been diminished, but it was never fully gone. I thought you would understand that, given your profession."

At that statement, John knew that there was something Sherlock and Riley shared that he had no information on. He needed to know what all of this was about. Before John could say anything, Riley asked another question that caught him off guard.

"Does anyone else know you're alive? Did you tell Greg or Sara?" At the mention of a Greg and Sara, John thought of Sherlock's colleague Detective Inspector Greg Lestrade and his wife Sara. Was that who Riley and Sherlock were talking about?

"Yes," was the simple answer Riley got. "Greg found me through Mycroft. My brother's in the British Government, and Greg is working with them to protect the Muggles."

John really had no idea what they were talking about anymore. Muggles? What kind of a word was that? What surprised him even more was Sherlock reaching out and wrapping Riley in a tight embrace. By now it was obvious that the two knew each other, but John was still trying to work out how. He got his answer shortly after that, and it was certainly not anything he ever could have expected.

After Riley pulled away from Sherlock, they both looked at John like they had forgotten he was there. Looking back at each other, they said in unison, "Did you tell him?"

Having their answer, they turned to their friend with a look that said he was in for a long explanation. John certainly thought he deserved it.

Taking his hand and leading him to the couch, Riley said, "I'm sorry you have to hear it this way, but there's something we need to tell you. I was trying to keep you safe from all of this, but since you live with Sherly, are dating me, and probably know Greg and Sara, we can't keep this from you."

That was when John heard the strangest, yet most crucial, words come out of his best friend's mouth. "John," said Sherlock, "Greg and I are wizards, and Riley and Sara are witches. We're part of the magical world that you know nothing about. We fought in a war against an evil wizard who had been defeated, but not permanently."

"You mean to tell me that there's a whole world out there I've never seen or heard before, and my closest friends are all a part of it?" John was starting to feel slightly faint, and was glad he was sitting.

"Yes sweetheart. I'm so sorry I couldn't tell you. I didn't know you knew Sherly, Greg, and Sara or I wouldn't have been so secretive. We all had your best interests at heart." Riley's affirmation of Sherlock's story did not make John feel any better.

"I need some fresh air," he said, getting up and walking to the door. When the door opened of its own accord, he turned back to look at the two of them. Sherlock stood there with a stick of wood pointing at the door. He muttered something, and with a swish of the stick the door closed again.

John never made it outside for that air. Instead, he fainted. The display of what he was to learn was magic was too much for John. What he thought was going to be a simple meeting between his girlfriend and flatmate turned into something much, much more.